S.Korea to Join Japanese Fleet Review Despite Flag Controversy

South Korea will join Japan’s international fleet review next month for the first time in seven years, the government here said Thursday.

The decision came amid controversy over the imperial rising-sun flag that the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force uses.

A government official said that it made the decision because it thinks “the best weapon to respond to nuclear threats from North Korea is security cooperation between South Korea, the U.S. and Japan.”

Seoul will send the 11,000-ton logistics support ship Soyang, rather than a warship, to the fleet review to be held in Sagami Bay off Kanagawa Prefecture on Nov. 6. The ship carrying 137 officers and sailors under the command of a Navy captain will leave Jinhae on Saturday for Yokosuka Port.

Members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or Quad, an informal anti-China alliance of Japan, the U.S., Australia and India, will also take part as well as Canada, France, Malaysia, New Zealand and the U.K.

The South Korean Navy participated in the international fleet review in Japan for the first time in 2002 during the Kim Dae-jung administration, and again in 2015 during the Park Geun-hye administration.